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Comment: This is the opening ceremony of the conference, in the same room where I would eventually give my talk. As you can see, it has a podium on a raised stage and a LARGE screen (like 40 sq ft!). Also, I am pretty far back, showing the size of the room. All of these factors conspired to make the room a bit intimidating for my talk :)
bobbytomb * There is a cemetary in Ediburgh called Greyfriars. In this cemetary, a long time ago, this guy died and was buried. Once buried, his dog came and sat on his grave and kept watch every day, until he himself died, 14 years later! The dog's name was Bobby, and they commemorated his loyalty and loving by burying him in the front of the cemetary. Here is a picture of his restored grave. The Scots really love their dogs, which is awesome. * 640 x 480 * (134KB)

greyfriars * Here's another shot within Greyfriars. It's incredibly peaceful and beautiful. In fact, I saw quite a few people enjoying their lunches there. * 640 x 480 * (132KB)

moregrayfriars * These are some of the more spooky graves and crypts within Greyfriars. The details are just beautiful. Some of the old crypts had ghoulies and skulls on them. Graves and ghosts are a popular theme in Edinburgh and there are lots of ghost tours within the city at night. * 640 x 480 * (133KB)

bobbymemorial * This statue, right across the street from Greyfriar's graveyard, commemorates Greyfriar's Bobby, the dog that visited his owner's grave for 14 years. The locals say this is the most photographed statue in the city, and this is yet another great example of the Scot's appreciation for dogs. * 119 x 152 * (5KB)

mkc * This is another highly recommended historical site! The old city layout resembles a human spine and ribs, with the spine being the main road, the Royal mile, and the ribs being the offshoot streets called closes. These closes are really more like super thin alleyways, and the people lived and worked to the sides of the closes. Edinburgh used to be slanted towards the castle, pyrimidally, and the closes would run downhill until they hit the Nor Loch (now Prince's St Gardens), where the rich people lived as high up as possible, since people would dump their sewage down the closes to let it run into the Loch. So, when the city decided to build the Royal Exchange, they wanted it to be flat, so they razed over the old closes, and built on top of them, to flatten it off. To do this, they razed and filled in some of the closes, but they used the structure of some of the others to help support the foundation of the exchange. Mary King's close is one of those left as support, and this tour lets you wander around in the well preserved close, (which is a truly slanted alley) below ground! You get to see a low house, a rich person's house (which has preserved the printing on the walls!), a butcher's, sawmaker's, etc. It's a really great historical tour, and the guides are very entertaining in the way they tell the stories. You can't take any pictures down there, so I took this one to commemorate the fun tour. * 640 x 480 * (118KB)
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1/9/02 12:39 PM
armybandatcastle * After the opening ceremony all of the conference participants walked to the castle for the opening reception. The guy behind me joked, The nerds are storming the castle!! When we arrived the military was practicing their musical marching for their upcoming military celebration. We walked in and their were lines of bagpipers and drummers, all dressed in different military uniforms. It was amazing! Some were in traditional highland tartan kilts, some were in modern blue uniforms, some were in camoflauge and some were in hybrid uniforms that had the modern blue top with a blue kilt. * 640 x 480 * (129KB)

army2 * Another pic of the bagpiping army guys. I turned to the security guard next to me and said, Man, the Scots must really like Artificial Intelligence. This is quite a greeting. He said, Move along please, sir. Guess I should stick to research... * 640 x 480 * (121KB)

army3 * More bagpipers. I was a bit excited by this :) * 640 x 480 * (129KB)

drummers_castle * Here are the drummers, with a nice shot of the castle behind them. * 640 x 480 * (124KB)

view_lower_castle_wall_princesSt * Once we got in the castle, I went to the lower castle wall and took this picture looking out over the armament cannons. I did this because this is similar to the picture of the caslte that was in the beginning of the slide show, but in reverse. Princes St. Gardens are below, with that guy on the horse, who I didn't recognize. * 640 x 480 * (126KB)
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